STEVEN Taylor has called for greater respect for referees after revealing Mark Halsey was a regular target of death threats.

In a conversation with Halsey before last weekend’s match against West Brom, Taylor said the Premier League match official had told him he had received threats to “put a bullet in the heads” of him and his family.

The Newcastle defender admitted his shock at the revelation, insisting the taunts he had faced in the previous weekend’s Tyne-Wear derby paled in comparison.

“He asked me how I felt about the Sunderland game and I said there had been no problems at all, that it was just a bit of banter,” Taylor said.

“I didn’t realise that he gets death threats and all that. He has had death threats to him and his family - people talking about his family, his kids, about putting a bullet in their heads.

“I didn’t know that kind of thing happened. That was a bit of a shock to me, a real eye-opener.”

Halsey, who recovered from throat cancer to return to refereeing in 2010, was at the centre of Twitter abuse last year after he officiated a stormy match between Liverpool and Manchester United, one network user saying afterwards: “I hope Mark Halsey gets cancer again and dies”.